Thread: RadioShack Closing Up to 700 Stores

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RadioShack Closing Several Hundred Stores

POSTED: 11:59 am PST February 17, 2006

DALLAS -- RadioShack said it plans to close up to 700 stores after reporting profits in the latest quarter dropped 62 percent from a year ago.

It also plans to shutter distribution centers in Charleston, S.C., and and Southhaven, Miss., to improve its financial performance.

The consumer electronics retailer says, excluding one-time items, it earned 38 cents a share.

RadioShack blames falling sales of higher profit-margin items and said sales of wireless phones were disappointing.

All the stores targeted for closing are company-operated. There are a total of nearly 7,000 RadioShack stores.

At midday, RadioShack shares were down nearly 8 percent, down $1.60 to $19.15.

Also look at GM, Ford, United Airlines, Delta, Northwest and keep telling me the economy is good. Bush you $%_*.

I think these US companies should be bailed out with the money that's going to Iraq.

There's probably a maximum of three minimum wage employees per store, plus some district managers who are going to get the axe.

Hopefully, these people will be able to do better.

Radio Shack treats its employees like cattle.

Worked for Radio Shack in 1980, for one week.

Quickly learned that employees were not respected.

Customers, from the store's management's viewpoint, were mere cattle to be taken for as much money as possible with no consideration for their wants or needs.

I am surprised Rad Shack has lasted this long.

Radio Shack: You got money, we got pockets............

But regardless of the reputation of the business, it has been around for a long time and this is one more sign that the economy is headed for a major nosedive.

Looks like the article I posted yesterday got lost in the upgrade.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/technolog ... nology-hed

RadioShack CEO quits in resume hullabaloo
McDonald's alum Babrowski steps in
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From Tribune news services

February 21, 2006

FT. WORTH -- A former longtime McDonald's Corp. executive was named president and acting chief executive of RadioShack Corp. on Monday, after her predecessor resigned because of inaccuracies on his resume.

The electronics retailer said its board had accepted Dave Edmondson's resignation and had promoted Claire Babrowski, who joined the company as executive vice president and chief operating officer in July.

Babrowski had resigned from McDonald's in December 2004 after 31 years with the fast-food giant. She was senior executive vice president and chief restaurant operations officer when she left the Oak Brook-based company.

RadioShack retained executive-search firm Spencer Stuart to find a CEO and said external and internal candidates are expected to be considered. Executive Chairman Leonard Roberts said Babrowski will be a candidate to become the permanent CEO.

Stacy Widlitz, an analyst for Fulcrum Global Partners, said Babrowski would fit well.

"She's the right candidate," Widlitz said. "I like her approach at how she looks at the business. She walks into a store and wants to see it through the consumer's eyes."

Last week, the company said it would hire outside lawyers to investigate errors in Edmondson's resume, including claims that he earned two college degrees for which the school he attended has no records. That investigation won't continue now that Edmondson has quit, the company said.

Edmondson, who has said he took full responsibility for the errors, issued a brief statement but did not discuss his resume.

"For the last 11 years, it has been my privilege to be associated with RadioShack," he said. "At this time, the board and I have agreed that it is in the best interest of the company for new leadership to step forward so that our turnaround plan has the best possible chance to succeed, as I know it will."

"This situation is especially painful, because Dave is a talented and dedicated individual who has made many contributions to the company," said Executive Chairman Leonard Roberts, citing Edmondson's push to incorporate wireless products into RadioShack's retail mix.

The move did not surprise Fulcrum Global's Widlitz, though she didn't think the change would come on a public holiday, as it did, when financial markets were closed.

"If you think about his tenure, it's not as if he's led a turnaround of this company," she said.

"That being said, it would be difficult for the board, considering the things that have come out, to find a reason to keep him." Citigroup Global Markets Inc. analyst Bill Sims said he questioned Edmondson's ability as CEO early on.

"We found out from Day One that his own analytical ability wasn't what we would expect out of a Fortune 500 company," Sims said. "The [resume issue] wasn't a complete surprise. A lot of people suspected it already. I don't feel comfortable with his leadership to be running a company the size of RadioShack."

Edmondson joined RadioShack in 1994 and has been CEO since May. He also is scheduled to stand trial in Ft. Worth in April on charges of driving while intoxicated.

Babrowski, who joined McDonald's as a crew member in the Ottawa, Ill., store at age 16, resigned from the company three weeks after new leaders took the helm at the hamburger giant.

She had been considered a leading candidate to succeed former CEO Charles Bell, who resigned in November 2004 because of colon cancer. But McDonald's named former Vice Chairman James Skinner to replace Bell and promoted the former heard of its North American operation, Michael Roberts, to president and chief operating officer.

Roberts and Babrowski had been considered rivals for the top post at the world's largest restaurant company.

When she resigned, Babrowski said she was leaving for personal reasons.

"Life is short and I've recently been contemplating new horizons, thinking about business opportunities beyond McDonald's, wondering how my talent and experience would apply to new challenges," she said.

She has one now. Last week, RadioShack said its fourth-quarter earnings fell 62 percent and disclosed plans to close 400 to 700 stores and two distribution centers as part of a campaign to fix its financial performance.

Hmmmm . . . even though it's mentioned here that Radio Shack treats its' employees no better than cattle and they have been around for a long time, I wonder if Wal-Mart/Sam's could have anything to do with the slow sales. After all, they pretty much sell everything under the sun and undercut prices so that so many other businesses cannot afford to keep their doors' open.

P.S. Cattle also deserve much better treatment than they receive.

I don't know about Radio Shack in general but I know that the ones here would tell you pretty much anything to make a sale. That is why I trust them least and shop there last. If someone lies to me to sell me something, I get very irate. If that is their company policy, then they don't want' my business.